NATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS

Sankhyiki Bhawanis the new office of (NSSO) has been inaugurated in New Delhi.

India is participating in the current phase of International Comparison Programme (ICP) with reference to 2017.

With the inauguration of the new building, all the Divisions will come under one roof.

It will improve coordination of various works at a very closer level and result in speedy and better output.

It is a global statistical initiative that supports inter-country comparisons of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its components, using Purchasing Power Parity.

Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MOSPI) will take up the price collection work in rural and urban areas shortly all over the country.

Delhi Police launch bicycle patrol

The Delhi Police has launched the Bicycle Patrols for better policing.

It was launched by Union minister of Home Affairs.

In the first phase, a total of 65 high-end bicycles have been operationalised.

Bicycle patrols were launched as a part of green initiative for patrolling the parks, congested lanes, by-lanes, the cooperative societies, etc.

Major areas of focusing of these bicycle patrols will be parks where citizens including senior citizens and women go for morning and evening walks.

Jaitley inaugurates Telangana solar plant, Karna windmill

Defence Minister Jaitley has inaugurated a solar power plant of 16 MW capacity at the Ordinance Factory in Telangana’s Medak.

The solar power plant at Medak has been set up at a cost of Rs 105 crore by Bharat Electronics Limited.

A9 MW capacity windmill project has installed at Dammur in Karnataka at a cost of Rs 53 crore by BEML.

Delhi to host 3-day Indian Mobile Congress in September

Union Minister for Communications has announced that the Mobile Congress 2017 (IMC 2017) in New Delhi.

It is a 3 day programme and is scheduled from 27th to 29th September 2017.

This is the first time India is all set to host its own mobile mega show.

The Indian telecom market is the second-largest in the world after China.

Ministry of Earth Sciences to launch ‘Deep Ocean Mission’ by January 2018

Secretary of Ministry of Earth Sciences has announced that India is all set to launch ‘Deep Ocean Mission’ by January 2018.

‘Deep Ocean Mission’ will improve India’s position in ocean research field.

Seven premier science agencies including NIO, ISRO and DRDO will participate in this Ministry of Earth Sciences to launch ‘Deep Ocean Mission’ by January 2018 venture.

India to be first in world to run all government ports on green energy

All 12 major domestic ports in India will soon switch to renewable energy to meet their entire power requirements. Thus India will become first in the world to run all government ports on green energy.

Indian Government is planning to install 150 mw of solar power and 50 mw wind power generation capacity by year 2019.

The resulting 200 MW of renewable energy generation capacity will be ramped up to 500 mw in the next few years.

INTERNATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS

Mumbai, Delhi, 7 other Indian cities in JLL’s global 300

Mumbai, Delhi and 7 other Indian cities have featured in the list of top 300 global cities which are the focus of commercial activity and interest.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Punjab National Bank (PNB) signed a $100 million loan agreement to finance large solar rooftop systems on industrial and commercial buildings throughout India.

This is the first tranche loan of the $500 million multi tranche finance facility Solar Rooftop Investment Program (SRIP) approved by ADB in 2016.

PNB will use the ADB funds to make further loans to various developers and end users to install rooftop solar systems.

RBI to soon circulate new pink-green Re 1 notes

The Reserve Bank of India will soon circulate one rupee notes while the existing notes and coins will also continue.

The new notes will be in Pink-Green colour with the representation of the one rupee coin on the reverse of the note.

According to RBI these currency notes are legal tender as provided in The Coinage Act 2011.

The new notes will bear the bilingual signature of economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das.

AWARDS

Author Jhumpa Lahiri wins 2017 PEN/Malamud award

Author Jhumpa Lahiri wins PEN/Malamud Award 2017.PEN/Faulkner Foundation has announced that Professor of Creative Writing Jhumpa Lahiri is the recipient of the 2017 PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story.

Jhumpa Lahiri received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for Interpreter of Maladies, her debut story collection that explores issues of love and identity among immigrants and cultural transplants.

Her most recent books include In Other Words (Knopf, 2016) and a translation of Domenico Starnone’s novel, Lacci, entitled Ties (Europa Editions, 2017).

Tata Motors awarded for contribution to Skill India

Tata Motors was awarded ‘HR Innovation of the Year’ for its significant contribution to skill development in the automotive sector at the Asia-Pacific Excellence Awards.

The major aim is to make the Indian automotive industry globally competitive; the skill development program by Tata Motors.

It will address the automotive skill challenges; the company focuses on skilling school drop-outs and youth especially women, while enhancing global employability.

Tata Motors is working towards promoting gender diversity in auto manufacturing and service sectors.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Pentagon successfully tests ICBM defense system for first time

US military conducted a successful missile defence test involving a Pentagon successfully tests ICBM defense system for first time simulated attack by an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Firstly an ICBM-type missile was fired from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands toward the waters at south of Alaska.

Thereafter, a rocket was fired from the Ground-based Midcourse Defence (GMD) system from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California which deployed an ‘exo-atmospheric kill vehicle’ that smashed into the ICBM-type missile and thereby destroyed it completely.

Scientists at IIT Kharagpur Develop New Technology to Manufacture Biofuel

Scientists at IIT Kharagpur have developed with a new technology known as ‘soil-to-soil’ manufacturing technology.

It is used for manufacturing cheaper, quicker and pollution-free.

The new technology will help in manufacturing Biofuel. Biofuels are fuels which are in some way derived from biomass.

Scientists at Astrophysics Institute in the Canary Islands have found a planet which may be habitable and can host liquid water.

Scientists have discovered a potentially habitable Earth-like planet.

It is only 21 light years away, and is one of the least massive known “Super-Earths”.

Scientists from Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) in Canary Islands found that the planet, with a mass between two and three times the Earth, resides at the edge of the habitable zone of its host star GJ625 (Gliese 625).

This is the sixth super-Earth closest to our solar system in the habitability zone of its star.

SPORTS

Kohli and Dhoni amongst four Indian cricketers on ESPN World Fame 100

Indian cricketers Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina, have featured in this year’s ESPN World Fame 100 list.